Reel



Dec. l2, W. A WHITTAKER REEL Filed cm.v 26, 19:58 2 sheets-sheet 1[Nl/ENTOR De@ 12, 1939- w.. A. WHITTAKER 2,182,936

REEL

Filed l0011. 26, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'M 'LI 7,0 M

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4b o 9o' I e l* ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 12, 1939 UNITE` STATES# TENT REEL

Application October 26, 1938, Serial No. 237,011

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improved type of reel and moreparticularly to a reel designed for use with electric wires and cables.

It is the general practice to ship insulated wires and cables on largespools or reels so'that they may be protected against accidental blowsand, to some degree, sheltered from the elements. The reel may take oneof many forms but, in general, it consists of a central drum about whichthe cable is wrappedand which is tted with circular heads that serve torestrain the cable laterally and also act as a convenient means forrolling the reel from one position to another.

For practical considerations it is necessary to rmly anchor or securethe starting end of the cable to the reel so that the cable may bereadily drawn on to the drum previous to shipment. Similarly, thefinishing end is also secured by lashing to one of the heads of thereel. This is an entirely satisfactory arrangement so' long as the reelis rolled in such a manner as to prevent the cable from loosening uponthe drum. It will be understood that the cable, being primarilymetallic, has considerable weight and its inertia is such that there isa marked tendency for it to slip about the drum during acceleration anddeceleration of rolling. If the cable is rolled in the proper direction,the tendency is to put stress upon the fastening at the starting end ofthe cable and no harm is done, since it is made amply strong towithstand such stresses. However, if the reel is rolled in the oppositedirection, the tendency is to loosen up the windings of cable and oncethis has been accomplished damage will inevitably result if adjacentturns of the loosened cable rub against each other when subjected to thevibration such as is encountered in' shipment on freight cars or trucks.The primary object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a reelwhich Will only roll in one direction or at least may be rolled muchmore easily in the proper direction than in the reverse direction. Otherobjects of this invention and advantages of the described constructionswill be apparent from the following description when read in connectionwith the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings- Figure l is a side elevation of a reelincorporating'one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a reel incorporating a second embodimentof the present invention.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional View of a portion of the reel shown inFigure 1 taken along plane AA.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 taken along plane BB.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 taken 5 along plane CC.

Figure 6 is-an elevation of another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 illustrates partially in cross-section, still anotherembodiment in cross-section of this 10 invention.

Figure 8 is a side elevation of a fourth embodiment of this invention,the two reels shown being rotated in opposite directions;

Referring to Figure l of the drawings, a head of a reel is shown whichis tted with a flange 2| and spider 22, for the reception of an axle.The reel is made up of a pair of similar heads with a central drum aboutwhich the cable 23 is wrapped. For clarity, the two extremities of the20 cable are all that is shown. The starting end 2li of the cable issecured to the head by a suitable lashing 25 and a similar method isemployed with the nishing end 26. It is, of course, apparent that thehead 2!) is provided with slots 25 21 to permit the ends of the cable tobe drawn to the exterior of the head for fastening. From the foregoingdescription, it will be apparent that this reel should be rolled in acounter-clockwise direction as this will tend to put stress upon thelashing 25 and prevent loosening of the cable. If the reel is rolled. ina clockwise direction, the cable will back up upon the drum and becauseof the loosened turns, will suffer damage during transportation.

In the past, manufacturers of cable have attempted to meet thissituation by painting conspicuous arrows on the reels indicating theproper direction of rotation. However, these instructions aredisregarded in sufficient instances to cause a number of complaints andfailures which could have been avoided, if the reel had been rolled onlyin the correct manner.

One of the simplest methods of hindering rotation in a given directionis illustrated in Fig- 45.

ures 1 and 2 in which an eccentric shoe 2B is attached tangent to thelagging or flange of the head. It will be apparent that when the reel isrolled in a counter-clockwise direction, this shoe will increase theeffort required only slightly,

whereas the shoe will be a serious handicap to rotation in the oppositedirection. This fitting may be applied to the rim of the head as shownin Figs. l, 3 and 4 or in those cases where lagging 3U is applied toenclose the cable, as shown in 55 Cil Figure 2, it may take a slightlydifferent form 29 when it may then be attached to these cross pieces asshown in Figure 5.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate cross-sections of a portion of the head ofthe reel indicating the head 20, and the rim 2 l, which is usuallynecessary to withstand the wear encountered in rolling. Thecross-sections through the shoe are self-explanatory and illustrate thesimplicity of this fitting. The whole assembly is secured in position bybolts 3|.

In some cases, it may be desirable to fasten the wedge attachment 29 asmentioned, to the lagging 3U, which is used to protect the contents ofthe reel. Such a wedge is illustrated in Figure 5 and may beconveniently attached to the lagging by suitable screws, 33.

While the devices described above do tend to impede rotation in onedirection as compared to another, they may be somewhat unsatisfactory inthat they introduce a certain amount of bumping whenever the reel isrolled. Accordingly, the subsequent designs illustrated in the drawingsare intended to provide means which will block rotation in the wrongdirection without hindering movement in the correct manner. Asillustrated in Figure 6, the reel Z, which is provided with lagging 3D,carries a plate 33, which is secured to the reel by appropriatefastenings 34. A portion of the plate is raised to form a stop 32, whichlimits the rotation of the arm 35, about the pivot 36. At the innerextremity of the arm is a weight 3'! and this is of sufficient mass totend to rotate the arm in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction,depending on whether or not the center of gravity of the weight lies tothe right or left of a vertical line passing through the pivot 36. Forexample, if the surface upon which the reel is resting is indicated bythe line 38 the arm will take the position shown in solid lines;whereas, if the line, 39 is the surface, the arm will rotate to theposition indicated in broken lines. From this, it will be apparent thatthe arm 3l, is no obstacle to rotation in a clockwise direction but willprevent movement in the opposite direction. This device is free from theobjection of the preceding types since the arm does not touch thesurface of the earth at all when the reel is correctly handled.

In the device illustrated in Fig. 7, the retarding mechanism is made upso that it will t into space usually reserved for a lag 32 and is of thesame dimensions as the cross piece which it replaces. In thisembodiment, the device consists of a channel iron 40, which spans thedistance between the two heads of the reel. Fitted to the channel is acover plate 4| provided with an axle 42 and a spring 43 which tends tokeep the cover in the open position indicated in broken lines. It isapparent that when rotation is in a counterclockwise direction, thecover 4l will be pressed back into the closed position by the weight ofthe reel but that if it is attempted to roll the reel in the oppositedirection the cover 4i, will serve as an outstanding arm to hinder therotation and act as a block.

There is still another method of accomplishing the purpose of thisinvention as illustrated in Figure 8 in which the head of the reel 30,is provided with one or more plates 44, of the general shape illustratedin the drawing, and hinged about the pin 45. A second pin 46 is alsoprovided to limit the rotation of the plate 44 in either direction. Thereel indicated diagrammatically at the left represents the position ofthe plates for various points at the surface of the reel when rotationis attempted in a counterclockwise direction, assuming that the reelshould only be rotated in the opposite way. It is apparent that themovement has been effectively blocked by the position of one of theplates shown in the lower left hand corner which has become wedgedbetween the pin 46 and the ground. The second reel 3D at the right-handside of the sheet illustrates an exactly similar construction but showsthe positions of the plates 44 when the reel is turned the correct way.It will be seen that the plate nearest the ground is now resting uponthe pin 46', and in this manner is kept from interfering with themovement of the reel.

While a number of methods of carrying out my invention have beendescribed above, it will be apparent that those skilled in the art canmake many modifications in the design of the various features of thisinvention without departing from the invention as dened in the followingclaims.

What I claim is:

1. A reel, a cable wound upon said reel beginning with a starting endwhich is secured to said reel and terminating with a finishing end whichis also attached to said reel and means attached to said reel effectiveto block rolling of the reel in a direction which will place a tensilestress on the fastening at the finishing end while offering noresistance to rolling in a direction which will stress the fastening atthey starting end.

2. A reel, a strand wound upon said reel and means effective to impederolling of said reel in one direction, said means coming into operativeposition only when said reel is rolled in a direction which tends toloosen the strand upon said reel.

3. A reel, a cable wound upon said reel, the two extremities of thelcable being fastened to said reel and means actuated by the rotation ofsaid reel which impedes rotation of said reel in a direction which willtend to loosen the cable upon the reel by coming between said reel andthe supporting surface while offering no resistance to rotation in theopposite direction.

4. In combination with a reel, means effective to impede rolling in onedirection while offering no resistance to rolling in an oppositedirection, said means comprising a rotatable arm and a stop, said armtaking a position between said stop and the supporting surface when thereel is rolled in a direction which will tend to loosen the strand uponsaid reel and taking a position out of contact with the supportingsurface when rolling is in an opposite direction.

5. A reel, a strand wound upon said reel and means effective to impederolling of said reel in one direction by coming between said reel andits supporting surface, said means coming into operative position onlywhen said reel is rolled in a direction which tends to loosen thestrand.

6. A reel comprising a drum and two heads, a strand wound about saiddrum and means attached to at least one of said heads effective toimpede rolling in oney direction while offering no resistance to rollingin an opposite direction, said means comprising a rotatable arm and astop, said arm taking a position between said stop and the supportingsurface when the reel is rolled in a direction which will tend to loosenthe strand upon said drum and taking a position out of contact with thesupporting surface when rolling is in an opposite direction.

WILLIAM A. WHITTAKER.

